RWBY: Ice Queendom Fixes Yang's Worst Volume 1 Moment

One moment from Yang in RWBY volume 1 stands out as being both bad and out of character for her, but RWBY: Ice Queendom manages to fix the mistake.

RWBY: Ice Queendom Fixes Yang's Worst Volume 1 Moment

Warning: Contains spoilers for RWBY: Ice Queendom episodes 1 and 2.

The first three episodes of RWBY: Ice Queendom are out, and they fix one of Yang’s worst moments from RWBY volume 1. Ice Queendom is a largely original story for the RWBY franchise, but the first three episodes have devoted time to abridging the key moments of volume 1 to catch any new fans up to speed on the basics of the show. Naturally, there have been changes done to fit the format and time constraints, and some of those changes resulted in one of Yang’s worst, and weirdest, moments from volume 1 being improved upon.

When Ruby and Yang first arrive at Beacon in volume 1, Yang tells Ruby that she should try and make new friends and then proceeds to leave her all by herself to hang out with her own friends. The moment makes Yang seem incredibly flighty and downright insensitive for forcing RWBY‘s Ruby Rose out of her comfort zone, especially when the friends she ran off with never appear again afterward. What makes it even worse is that the show would later depict the two of them as having a close and affectionate relationship, which makes the previous moment come off as out of character for Yang, as well.

Yang abandoning Ruby is easily her worst moment in RWBY volume 1, but RWBY: Ice Queendom manages to fix that. In an original scene taking place before they go to Beacon, Ruby and Yang’s father, Taiyang, tells Yang that it’d be good for Ruby to be more independent and rely on Yang less, something Yang reluctantly agrees to and has a flashback to when Ice Queendom (written by the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series’ Tow Ubukata) gets to the scene of Ruby being nervous about meeting new people. That scene vastly improves on the volume 1 moment because now it’s clear that Yang is trying to push Ruby out of her comfort zone because she’s looking out for her as opposed to her just not paying attention to Ruby like she was before.

Ice Queendom also fixes Yang’s volume 1 moment through her actions in the immediate next scene. As part of the anime’s abridging of volume 1, the next scene to follow is Ruby meeting Blake and Weiss and trying to befriend them, and unlike in the original series, Yang is with Ruby to try and help her strike up a conversation. This also works to improve the volume 1 moment because even though Yang is pushing Ruby (voiced by the Spy x Family series’ Saori Hayami), out of her comfort zone, she isn’t leaving her to fend for herself and is still trying to help while having Ruby take the lead. Granted, part of that is likely due to the show needing to get Yang acquainted with Blake and Weiss, as well, but it still keeps Yang’s character far more consistent with how she would be depicted later in the show.

Yang abandoning Ruby and forcing her out of her comfort zone was easily her worst moment in RWBY volume 1, but RWBY: Ice Queendom does a lot to improve on it. Not only does it give Yang an actual reason for wanting Ruby to go out of her comfort zone and make friends, but Yang (voiced by Ami Koshimizu of the Code Geass anime) sticks around to try and help her do it, which keeps her character and their relationship far more consistent. At this point, it’s unknown how much more of the original series RWBY: Ice Queendom is going to adapt, but with any luck, there will be more moments like this one that serve to improve upon the source material.